1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing technique, and particularly to an information processor that is provided with a moving image playing function and an information processing method applicable to the information processor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Due to the advancements in information processors and image compression techniques of recent years, a recorded television program, an image captured by a home video recorder, or various moving image contents obtained via a recording medium or a network can be played daily for pleasure using an individually-owned player. As various moving images become increasingly accessible and the sources thereof become multifarious, efficiency has been required for selecting a desired moving image.
Unlike still images, moving images are made up of data having temporal widths. Accordingly, in order to understand the whole picture, a user needs, after all, to play and view the entire moving image. Also, it is difficult to adopt a method of browsing through a number of files at once to select one file, which is applicable to a still image. As a technique for selecting a file without having a full view, there is a function to display one frame of a moving image as a thumbnail. However, with such function, there is considerable lack in the amount of information as compared with the original moving image data, and the content of the moving image is sometimes unable to be recognized merely by its thumbnail image.
Also, when only a fraction of a long moving image needs to be checked or when a moving image needs to be played from a given scene, the desired point to be played in the moving image is generally reached by searching for a desired scene while actually playing the moving image at a higher speed. Accordingly, there has been a problem with efficiency for such a method.